Fluke and T-Storms
No shop news today, unless any of you are interested in behind the scenes upgrades to form or banner apps. If you are interested, what is wrong with you? LOL
So that being said, we have added banners to the product pages to remind everyone we have Free Shipping on orders over $100.00. We also have free in-store pickup for any order size. The second is great for anglers who know they are coming for a weekend. You can buy what you need online mid-week and pick it up when you get here. This is especially useful for people who enter the store, immediately have sensory overload because of all the stuff, and then forget what they came in for. You know who we are…
The fishing is pretty much the same as the last report. Fluke in the surf is the hottest game in town. Bucktails and Gulp! or sand fleas are taking a mix of shorts and keepers. There are still small fluke being taken by boats in Barnegat Bay. Keepers are available but we hear you will have to pick through a lot of shorts to find them. Fluke fishing from boats in the ocean is picking up, with no real hotspots to tell of at this time.
Bluefishing is also status quo. Poppers, spooks or small metals in the morning in the surf has been producing blues. If you prefer bait, mullet or fresh cut bunker is the way to go. And again with the warning, if you are fishing bait, keep an eye on your rods. Something large has been trying to steal surfcaster’s bait rods.
The striped bass reports in the shop have slowed down greatly, which tells us the bass fishing has slowed down at a synchronal rate. There are still a few around, as we heard a couple anglers fishing for fluke with bucktails and Gulp! picked up a stray striped bass.
As for what is going to happen this weekend,our crystal ball is in the repair shop. The weather pundits are predicting thunderstorms for most of the weekend, with some weather windows where an intrepid, and careful angler might be able to get out, but we predict participation will be low. If you do go out this weekend, please keep your eye on the weather and take cover if you hear thunder.
Here are some notable catches:
Our cover photo is Legendary Larry with a pretty looking fluke this morning from the surf.
Paul Stearns with a 23 inch, 4.8 pound fluke caught in a boat on.... you guessed it... bucktails and Gulp!
Ed Nowak with a beautiful 26” 6.60lb Fluke that he caught on a boat in the inlet on Gulp!
Ray is going to get a small reprieve this week from this part of the report. As many of you might already know, Bob and Scott went to iCast this week. We’ll have more on what they saw and the new and exciting items that will coming to Grumpys when they get back and debrief. You can get a preview of some of them if you follow us on Instagram. But, since this is not THAT part of the report, what I am here to tell you pertains to Scott. Besides some unsubstantiated seating issue rumors on the flight down (ala Kevin Smith), it seems Scott truly ingratiated himself “Northeast” style to the Florida anglers. We don’t know what he did. Maybe he said catching redfish was like fishing for goldfish? Maybe he said something terrible about fishing for green sweetwater fish (that’s usually my job…)? Either way, he did not make many friends. We hear he was run out of iCast by an angry mob, as depicted here…
